The Most Awful Responsibility

Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age

By: Alex Wellerstein

Narrated by: Tim Campbell

""I thought I knew the story but learned much that I didn’t know. Outstanding!""— Richard Rhodes

“This is historical research at its best.” — Dan Carlin

President Truman’s choice to drop the atomic bomb is the most debated decision in the 20th Century. But what if Truman’s actual decision wasn’t what everyone thinks it was?

The conventional narrative is that American leaders had a choice: Invade Japan, which would have cost millions of Allied and Japanese lives, or instead, use the atom bomb in the hope of convincing Japan to surrender. Truman, the story goes, carefully weighed the pros and cons before deciding that the atomic bomb would be used against Japanese cities, as the lesser of two evils.

But nuclear historian Alex Wellerstein argues that is not what happened.

Not only did Truman not take part in the decision to use the bomb, but the one major decision that he did make was a very different one — one that he himself did not fully understand until after the atomic bomb was used. The weight of that decision, and that misunderstanding, became the major reason that atomic bombs have not been used again since World War II.

Based on a close reading of the historical record, The Most Awful Responsibility shows that, despite his reputation as an ardent defender of the atomic bomb, Truman:

• Wanted to avoid the “murder” and “slaughter” of innocent civilians
• Believed that the atomic bomb should never be used again
• Hoped that nuclear weapons would be outlawed in his lifetime

Wellerstein makes a startling case that Truman was possibly the most anti-nuclear American president of the twentieth century, but his ambitions were strongly constrained by the domestic and international politics of the postwar world and the early Cold War. This book is a must-read for all who want to truly understand not only why the bomb was dropped on Japan but also why it has not been used since.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Fascinating perspective on Truman and his post-WW2 tenure

The bomb and especially its use in Japan are popular subjects for films and pop history but are often mangled for the sake of drama or brevity. In those retellings, any complexity or nuance to Truman's involvement with the bomb's creation and use is almost always reduced to "wartime president wanted to win and didn't care how many enemy noncombatants died". It's refreshing to find an accessible listen like this which pushes so deeply into the decision to use the bomb. Especially the diary entries and correspondences between so many of those involved. I look forward to the next work by Prof. Wellerstein.

Hardcore History fans assemble

Dan Carlin recommended this book and my man Dan doesn't miss. He's knows his stuff. when he said this book was a fresh take on one do the most interesting drama filled moments of the 20th century he wasn't wrong. I've been told and understood the decision to drop the bomb to be a careful deliberation not an inexorable movement fraught with specious understandings.